When "Free" Enters The Conversation Reason Exits The Room

Dec 18, 2015

The misleading promise of a "free" floral website can trick florists into choosing the most expensive possible e-commerce option for their flower store.

Lately some newer providers of e-commerce websites for florists are attempting to disrupt the industry with the promise of "free" florist websites. Rather than charge the florist for the website they'll provide it absolutely free*.

Less 30% of every single order of course. This means that almost any florist, even one whose website generates only one $40 order a week, will end up paying more for the "free" floral website.

And it just keeps getting worse. A shop that does $50K in online sales (and many of them do) would end up paying $15K for the "free" website – 25 times what it would cost with a paid website.

But this is the power of the word free. Once "free" comes into play it's hard to think rationally. And this of course is why these new vendors are so eager to exploit the power of the word free.

The good news is that most florists see through this. A few have been tempted (free can sound pretty good if you are tight on money and need to pay your annual renewal fee) but quickly realized they were looking at a costly mistake and switched back.